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Bjarni Herjlfsson was a Norse explorer, believed to be the first European to view mainland North America. While sailing from Iceland to Greenland in 986, Bjarni was blown off course in a storm. Though he managed to regain his course, he reported seeing low-lying hills covered with forests somewhere to the west. Though the land looked hospitable, he was eager to reach his destination and spent no time exploring the new lands. He did, however, report his findings both in Greenland and in Norway, but no one seemed to have taken any interest in them at the time.
Ten years later, however, Leif Ericson took the claims more seriously and set out to find the elusive land. The result is thought to be the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This is the first known attempt at settlement by Europeans in the Americas (if not counting the Greenland settlements).